RECENT NEWSHomework: Odd Musical InstrumentsOctober 05, 2008 Last week, host Andrea Seabrook asked listeners to send in home recordings and photographs of their oddest musical instrument. The responses were eclectic, and some were indeed strange. Here is a smattering of some of the more interesting instrument descriptions from listeners.
Modern forensics solves the musical mystery of an unsung composer October 05, 2008 The majestic Cello Suites were indeed composed by Bach - but which Bach? For centuries, Johann Sebastian has been credited as the composer, but 21st-century detective work has unveiled his wife, Anna, as probably the true creator of the suites and other manuscripts.
Classical maverick tackles pop music October 02, 2008
Obituary: Donald Erb, composer October 01, 2008 Donald Erb, who has died aged 81, was a composer’s composer. His output, in an independently minded modernist idiom owing much to Schoenberg and Stravinsky, ran to over 100 works, 25 of them for orchestra with ten concertos, including those for cello (1975, for Lyn Harrell), clarinet (1984, for Richard Stoltzman), contrabassoon (1984) and brass instruments (1986, for the brass section of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra). Other orchestral works include Symphony of Overtures (1964), Symphony for wind band (1989) and The Seventh Trumpet (1969).
Glass to make opera about Disney October 01, 2008 
Classical composer Philip Glass has been commissioned to produce an opera that imagines the final months in the life of the late Walt Disney.
Philadelphia's Legendary Pipe Organ Is Restored September 28, 2008 The largest playable pipe organ in the world is in a department store in Philadelphia. In its heyday, the Wanamaker Organ could imitate the sounds of strings, horns, woodwinds and all kinds of bells and whistles.
Vienna Vegetable Orchestra celebrates 10 years September 28, 2008 The Vegetable Orchestra has been playing with its food for 10 years, delighting audiences from Belfast to Hong Kong with its self-made cucumberphones, celery bongos, pepper trumpets and leek violins.
Beethoven sales up after TV show September 25, 2008 Sales of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony have been boosted by its use in the final of BBC Two conducting series Maestro, figures show.
Met to offer online service for opera lovers September 24, 2008 Legendary performances at the Metropolitan Opera of 'La Boheme' with Luciano Pavarotti and 'Otello' with Placido Domingo will soon be available over the Internet for the first time.
Music Abounds In 2008 MacArthur Grants September 24, 2008
Music director Honeck's debut stirs excitement September 20, 2008 
After three years of treading water with an artistic leadership team, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra welcomes its new music director, Manfred Honeck, this week. The enthusiasm is palpable inside of Heinz Hall and in the community.
Remembering Henry Steinway September 20, 2008 Henry Z. Steinway, the great-grandson of the founder of the legendary piano-making company, died Thursday in New York. He was 93. He was the last of his family to run the company that was started in 1853. The company was sold to CBS Corp. in 1977. Steve Inskeep has this remembrance.
Missing Mozart score discovered in Nantes library September 18, 2008 A musical score on a small, yellowing scrap of paper found in a French library's archives has been confirmed as a lost work by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Sound of ocean waves, Mozart sonata can lower BP in elderly September 18, 2008 Twenty participants were asked to listen a 12-minute audio-guided relaxation-training program (ATP) with background sounds of ocean waves and a calming voice for three times a week for four months. While another group of 21 participants listened to a 12-minute Mozart sonata. The researchers recorded systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and heart rate before and after each session. It showed blood pressure in ATP reduced from 141/73 millimetres of mercury (mmHg) to 132/70 mmHg, and those listening to Mozart music, the blood pressure lowered from 141/71 mmHg to 134/69 mmHg
Indian conductor Mehta awarded top Japanese art prize September 17, 2008 Indian conductor Zubin Mehta was named Tuesday a recipient of Japan's Praemium Imperiale, one of art's richest awards, for his lifetime work with orchestras around the world.
Minnesota Orchestra concertmaster Jorja Fleezanis to leave post September 17, 2008 The concertmaster for the Minnesota Orchestra says she's leaving at the end of this season to teach violin and orchestral studies for a prestigious program at Indiana University.
Goodbye, Valkyries: Met Has Wagner, Renee, Atom Bomb: Preview September 16, 2008 It's time to say auf Wiedersehen to the Rhinemaidens, albs, gods, heroes, Valkyries, the worried wood bird and that lonely dragon. This new season marks the last outing for the Metropolitan Opera's folksy production of Wagner's ``Ring des Nibelungen,'' his four-opera cycle exploring the themes of greed, power, ambition, lust and love.
Julian Lloyd Webber on teaching classical music to deprived children September 16, 2008 A ground-breaking project is aiming to teach classical music to deprived children, Julian Lloyd Webber tells John-Paul Flintoff.
Why are there so few female conductors? September 15, 2008 The Proms ends this weekend, and among those taking up the baton will be comedian Sue Perkins, winner of the BBC TV conducting contest Maestro. It's unusual for a woman to conduct an orchestra. Why?
Dallas orchestra's new maestro makes debut September 12, 2008 Anton Kok flew all the way from Amsterdam to watch a colleague and friend turn yet another page in a remarkable career. What Dallas will soon begin to revel in, Mr. Kok said Wednesday night at the annual gala of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, is that its newly crowned conductor, Jaap van Zweden, brings a rock 'n' roll sensibility to classical music.
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